Ice bandit car gangsters jailed
7:33am Friday 10th July 2009 in News
TWO friends who were the ringleaders of car theft gang called The Ice Bandits have been jailed.
John Perritt and Trevor Jones targeted victims across the North West, striking when their cars were unattended with keys left in the ignition.
They were arrested last year in a series of dawn raids following months of undercover work by police.
A third man, David Jones, also played a part in the scheme, but was spared an immediate jail term by Judge Steven Everett, who suspended his sentence.
He told the defendants: “Each of you, in various ways, played a part in what was rightly described as an organised and systematic plan to steal motor vehicles. It was quite a sophisticated plan.”
Bolton Crown Court was told that the gang persistently targeted cars and commercial vans whose owners had left them unattended with the engines running — either early on frosty mornings, outside newsagents or on petrol station forecourts.
Henry Blackshaw, prosecuting, said: “Whilst the taking of individual vehicles was mainly opportunistic, the way in which they went looking for them was organised and systematic. On some days they were taking more than one vehicle in quick succession, abandoning the first, no doubt hoping to be able to return and collect it later.”
They stole 16 vehicles from across the North West.
Perritt and Trevor Jones were the main participants in the plan. But when Perritt was arrested following a police pursuit which led to the dangerous driving charge, he was replaced with David Jones. His main role was as a driver.
The court heard that the most pre-meditated incident came after Trevor Jones and David Jones had stolen a Renault Traffic van from Farnworth when its owner left his keys in the ignition and walked to the back of the vehicle.
The owner’s house keys and those for his car, a Land Rover, were on the keyring. Details of his workplace, in Wakefield, were also in the van. Nearly a month later, the two drove to his workplace in Wakefield and stole the Land Rover.
Once stolen, the vehicles were fitted with false number plates and sold on.
Police swooped on three houses last November and arrested the three men. The raids were part of a nine-month investigation into the theft of cars in Bolton, called Operation Groundhog. Nick Ross, defending Trevor Jones, said his client carried out the crimes to feed a cocaine habit. He added: “He is genuinely remorseful. He says he is disgusted with himself, both about the offences and the trouble he has reined upon his young family.”
Colin Buckle, defending Perritt, said his client had also been addicted to cocaine and read a letter from him to Bolton Crown Court. It said: “I know today that I deserve to go to jail.”
Andrew Costello, defending David Jones, said his client acted as a driver and was not a leader in the plot.
All three men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal motor vehicles. Perritt, aged 29, of George Street, Farnworth, also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and four counts of driving while disqualified. He was sentenced to 28 months in prison.
Trevor Jones, aged 27, of Tigg Fold Road, Farnworth, also pleaded guilty to four counts of driving while disqualified. He was sentenced to 16 months.
David Jones, aged 26, of Church Road, Kearsley, was given a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. He was also ordered to carry out unpaid work for 150 hours.
